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Nigel Howard

For over 30 years Nigel Howard has specialized in technology transactions such as M&A, strategic alliances, licensing, distribution agreements and outsourcing. Clients range from start-ups and emerging companies to international corporations. He has led negotiations of billion dollar service agreements that were critical to his client, and successfully handled the intellectual property and data issues on over 250 venture capital and M&A transactions.

Nigel is a "tremendous attorney" singled out for his detail-oriented approach, according to clients interviewed by Chambers and Partners. Peer commentators note his admirable commercial awareness, which achieves business-focused results, often in the most challenging of circumstances. He uses his extensive experience with IP and technology to advise on the commercial imperatives underlying these agreements.

Nigel has been ranked by Chambers Global, Chambers USA, Legal 500, Best Lawyers in America, and Who’s Who in American Law. He is frequent speaker on AI, data, distribution, and technology legal issues. His past and current clients include American Airlines, the American Bankers Association, American Express, AstraZeneca, British Airways, Brown Brothers Harriman, Cathay Pacific, Cisco, CoBank, DoubleClick, Etihad, HPE, Farelogix, Iberia, Mars, Merck, Merrill Lynch, Microsoft, NCR, the NFL, Novartis, P&G, Philippine Airlines, Promontory Financial, Singapore Airlines, Teva, TouchTunes, UBS, and Wyeth.

Contact:Read more about Nigel HowardEmail

This update focuses on how growing quantum sector investment in the UK and US is leading to the development and commercialization of quantum computing technologies with the potential to revolutionize and disrupt key sectors.  This is a fast-growing area that is seeing significant levels of public and private investment activity.  We take a look at how approaches differ in the UK and US, and discuss how a concerted, international effort is needed both to realize the full potential of quantum technologies and to mitigate new risks that may arise as the technology matures.

Quantum Computing

Quantum computing uses quantum mechanics principles to solve certain complex mathematical problems faster than classical computers.  Whilst classical computers use binary “bits” to perform calculations, quantum computers use quantum bits (“qubits”).  The value of a bit can only be zero or one, whereas a qubit can exist as zero, one, or a combination of both states (a phenomenon known as superposition) allowing quantum computers to solve certain problems exponentially faster than classical computers. 

The applications of quantum technologies are wide-ranging and quantum computing has the potential to revolutionize many sectors, including life-sciences, climate and weather modelling, financial portfolio management and artificial intelligence (“AI”).  However, advances in quantum computing may also lead to some risks, the most significant being to data protection.  Hackers could exploit the ability of quantum computing to solve complex mathematical problems at high speeds to break currently used cryptography methods and access personal and sensitive data. 

This is a rapidly developing area that governments are only just turning their attention to.  Governments are focusing not just on “quantum-readiness” and countering the emerging threats that quantum computing will present in the hands of bad actors (the US, for instance, is planning the migration of sensitive data to post-quantum encryption), but also on ramping up investment and growth in quantum technologies. Continue Reading Quantum Computing: Developments in the UK and US

Software development can teach us a lot about streamlining the research and development (R&D) process in other industries.  “Agile development”, or the process of dividing up an R&D project into smaller, more iterative segments instead of planning the entire project at its inception, is a hallmark of the software development…
Continue Reading The “Agile” Path to Market: An Alternative Approach to Food Industry R&D

Public-health researchers, officials and medical professionals rely on data to track outbreaks, advance research, and evaluate prospective treatments. One critical source of patient data comes from electronic health records (EHRs).  EHR data in the U.S. has traditionally been siloed within hospital IT systems, but the federal government and key healthcare …
Continue Reading EHR Interoperability: Public Health Benefits & Privacy Considerations

The rapid spread of COVID-19 has transitioned the telehealth debate from a matter of access, convenience, and cost-saving to a matter of absolute necessity on a large scale. A variety of barriers have traditionally stood in the way of broader adoption of telehealth including a lack of reimbursement by both…
Continue Reading State Medical Licensing Changes to Combat COVID-19

The COVID-19 crisis is demonstrating the potential of digital health technology to manage some of our greatest public health challenges.  The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy has issued a call to action for technology companies to help the science community answer high-priority scientific questions related to COVID-19. …
Continue Reading The Potential Benefits of Digital Health Technology in Managing COVID-19

On December 7, FDA published the much-anticipated “Framework for FDA’s Real-World Evidence Program” for drugs and biological products (the “Framework”).  In a statement announcing the Framework, Commissioner Gottlieb recognized the opportunities and challenges of using real-world data (“RWD”) and real-world evidence (“RWE”) to enhance regulatory decision-making and noted that leveraging this information is “a top strategic priority for the FDA.”  FDA opened a docket for public comments on the Framework through February 5, 2019.

The Framework focuses in particular on the use of RWE to support regulatory decisions about effectiveness.  The agency outlines three considerations that will guide its overall RWE Program and inform the agency’s assessment of individual drug applications.  The Framework also offers background on the agency’s previous use and current initiatives with respect to RWE and related topics, such as innovative clinical trial designs.  This blog post provides an overview of FDA’s proposal and highlights a few initial takeaways noted by Covington’s Digital Health team.Continue Reading Key Takeaways from FDA’s Framework for Real-World Evidence for Pharmaceuticals

There are two papers in the May 15 volume of the Annals of Internal Medicine that discuss digital health applications and are illustrative of the topics being considered by physicians as they evaluate the adoption and impact of digital solutions.  These papers serve as examples of the active dialogue taking…
Continue Reading What physicians are reading about digital health

Technology companies widely use open source software (“OSS”), which carries with it many potential benefits.  It can reduce the time and cost of development, and, to the extent that the code has been vetted by numerous other developers, may contain fewer bugs.  OSS can also reduce dependency upon third party vendors and associated pricing risks.

In the healthcare space in particular, OSS has been cited as one potential way to reduce the cost of developing and delivering digital care solutions, which in turn may mean improved access to or quality of treatment for underserved populations.[1] And indeed, OSS is frequently used in healthcare IT.  In fact, the EHR system for veterans, VistA, is available as open source code[2] and now deployed by a range of healthcare organizations.[3]

Of course, as with any third party technology, when incorporating OSS into a technology, it is important to carefully consider the soundness and security of the OSS code, as well as the legal terms on which the code is made available.  Below we highlight some key considerations for digital health ventures that either currently do or wish to use OSS for their technology: (1) security, (2) how license terms may impact the ability to commercialize the technology, and (3) how the use of OSS may impact corporate transactions, such as mergers and acquisitions.Continue Reading Open Source Considerations for Digital Health Ventures

Digital Health

In the second of a three-part series, Covington’s global cross-practice Digital Health team considers some additional key questions that companies across the life sciences, technology, and communications industries should be asking as they seek to fit together the regulatory and commercial pieces of the complex digital health puzzle.

Key Commercial…

Continue Reading Digital Health Checkup (Part Two): Key Commercial Questions When Contracting for Digital Health Solutions